Divided We Fall, United We Rise
by ShadowRose18
Summary: Song fic – So Cold – Breaking Benjamin. What if the Director, Itex and the By-Half plan had succeeded? What would have happened to the flock then? Minor FangMax, IggyElla. Iggy POV. Rated T for character death .::COMPLETE::.


**Divided We Fall, United We Rise**

**Summary:** Song fic – So Cold – Breaking Benjamin. What if the Director and Itex had succeeded in their plan? What would have happened to the flock then? Minor FangMax, IggyElla. Iggy POV.

**ShadowRose18:** okay, I wrote this on an aeroplane, so don't blame me if the lyrics are wrong, I got them by listening to the song on my iPod XD

Personally, I liked the basic concept, but I found the ending really crappy (sigh)

Also, if I somehow describe Iggy "seeing" something, tell me, because I have never written from a blind person's point of view DX I need to write from a blind person's POV again for a contest, but well, basically I need practise DX

Anyway, Maximum Ride :D

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**||Crowded streets are cleared away, one by one||**

Itex's plan to destroy the world had worked. Less than half the world's population remains. Many of those that remain are wounded or ill and remain in destroyed buildings. The city streets are empty, for no one walks them. What happened to the world?

**||Hollow heroes separate, as they run||**

So many things happened and the flock separated. Yeah, you heard me right. The flock…disbanded, separated, fell apart, whatever word you want to use. But we weren't running away, right?

**||You're so cold, keep your hand in mine||**

I can still remember that rainy day. Fang, still and motionless, was lying in the make-shift bed. Max, holding his hand and crying silently, wasn't moving either. I didn't have to hold my friend's hand to know that he was ice cold. To know that he was gone.

**||Wise men wander, while strong men die||**

Max, having felt like she had failed to save the world, wanders the world, looking aimlessly for a way to turn back time. Fang caught one of the many deadly diseases floating around the half-inhabited world, and died.

Of all things, I never thought a disease would kill Fang. I always thought he'd go down bleeding, protecting us all. Obviously his death was the main thing that set off all the other horrible tragedies. His death only caused Max to feel even more like a failure, even more helpless, even more lost.

**Chorus:**** Show me how it ends, its alright||**

Was this the ending of our story? That we fell apart and the world was going to end?

No, it can't be. It's alright. There's a different ending. There has to be.

**Chorus:**** Show me how defenceless you really are||**

The invincible, indestructible Maximum Ride was just a legend now. She was just like a turtle, but we only saw her shell, only the hard, tough, outer shell of Max. When her shell was taken away, she was defenceless, vulnerable, like a baby bird alone in its nest. I never realised how much she really needed us. I never realised that _we_, the flock, were her shell, her reason to keep fighting.

**Chorus:**** Satisfy an empty, 'else I'll hide||**

I remember what Max said to me once. She told me that she was so scared; she said she wanted to hide in a dark room and stay there, so that she wouldn't keep seeing what she had caused the world to become. But the thought of Max hiding in the corner of a dark room was even scarier than how helpless she already was.

I told her to keep going, but she said that she couldn't. She couldn't fill the empty feeling inside her, surrounding her, consuming her. I couldn't give her an answer.

**Chorus:**** Well that's alright, let's give this another try||**

This couldn't be the life we were meant to lead. There must be something we could do. I talked to Max. I told her that it wasn't her fault, one fourteen-year-old girl wasn't supposed to stop a whole organisation of evil scientists. I told her we just had to try again.

**||If you find your family, don't you cry||**

After Fang's funeral, Nudge had flown off, saying that she needed to know if her real family was alive or not. She was gone before Max or I could stop her. I haven't heard from her since.

**||In this land of make-believe, dead and dry||**

Angel was the next to go after Nudge. Her assortment of abilities kept growing in numbers as well as power. Eventually they grew too powerful for her young mind and she went insane. At the age of six. She lives in her own world in her mind, a desert like place. In reality, an abandoned science lab is her home.

**||You're so cold, but you feel alive||**

The Gasman, after losing his sister and most of the flock, spends his days in an empty warehouse, dismantling bombs previously made by Itex.

Like a robot, Gazzy continues dismantling them, cold as ice. It's hard to believe he isn't a robot; it's hard to believe he's still alive.

**||Lay your hand on me, one last time||**

One of the last things Fang did with us before he died was stack fists, like we always did. I remember it clearly. We knew it would be the last time that the stack would be complete, but we didn't want it to be any different to what we usually did. Max tried to act like she wasn't losing her shell, tried to be strong, but we all knew better.

**||Chorus x 2||**

**||It's alright x 9||**

It's been a year and I live with Dr. Martinez, Ella and Total. Sometimes Max comes to visit, but she's never here for long.

One morning, I walked to Fang's grave, in our backyard. I told him that I had a plan. I asked him to wish me luck, because, after all, it's what he would do.

Try again. It's not that hard, right?

I talked to Max. But her fears of failing were stronger than her belief in herself. She was gone before I could take back my words.

There was only one other way of convincing her.

With a lot of trouble and hard work, I managed to collect the crumbling members of our flock. Nudge, Gazzy, Angel. Would Max listen to us now?

When she saw all of us, she cried. It was a sound that I hadn't heard for so long, and never wanted to hear again.

Complete flock hug, we all surrounded our wounded leader. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I know that I never wanted it to end. It was comforting being with everyone. It had been too long. Too long apart.

Now, we're standing in front of Fang's grave. The sun is rising in front of us. The remaining flock, Ella, Dr. Martinez and Total. We're all here. I asked Fang for one favour: watch over us, so that we would never make the same mistake again. The wind blew and I could almost hear Fang thanking me. Almost.

Max, for the first time since he'd been buried, spoke to him. She told him that she'd failed, but she would try again. She promised him that she wouldn't let the flock fall apart again. Smiling, for the first time in a year, she added that she would become herself again. The invincible, indestructible Max.

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**ShadowRose18:** okay, I edited a few words here and there, but basically, that's it!

Don't kill me for killing Fang! (hides from Fang fangirls)

My first Maximum Ride fic, even if I am a giant fan :D

Hoping to write a Fax and possibly a IggyElla one later, but no ideas yet.

Anyway, review and tell me what you think! :D


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